paris holds the key to my heart. like the disney song.

sooo. it is 730 pm in paris and i spent today at the rodin musuem, which omg i loved. the park was wonderful and i loved his work. after that i went to sacre coure, sacred heart the church, which was so pretty. found my new boyfriend. he gyrates to bad euro pop and did magic tricks in front of the church. its pretty much love. except not. then i took the underground to the eiffel tower and first stopped at a grocery store and bought picnic food and a tiny bottle of wine and sat in front of the eiffel tower. had some creepy french dude come sit next to me. he asked me if i had a "man friend" and the correct answer to that question by a man who cant speak your language and is drinking out of an almost empty tequila bottle is always yes. and the next question he asks after "manfriend" should not be, "want a massage?" and that was the moment i decided it was time to go back to the hostel. hahahahaa. oh goodness the french are fun.

but seriously.. i am loving paris. i got the underground thing pretty much down. its so easy and nice. about 5.80 euros for a day pass though. the dollar is killing me. slowly but surely.

yesterday i walked to notre dame, the line was crazy so i continued on to the louvre and had to stop at the pet store and look at the cutest little pug puppies... if only i had 1000 euros.. spent a few hours at the louvre and saw my favorite exhibitions (egyptians, sculptures and the napolian apartments, plus the mona lisa and paintings) then ate at some cafe.

it hasnt been as strange as i thought it would be, walking all around alone, but i do miss my cell phone. haha.

much love.

day 5 in paris france

okay. so i was in the kenington area of london. super super fancy with beautiful houses and lots of overpriced stuff, but the hostel we stayed at was so cheap. had such a wonderful time in london, didnt pay for a single tourist attraction because ive seen them with mom when i was here last and im poor. haha. we met up with rebecca's friend amelia who is taking a psychlogy class in london this month and went to hyde park and had a picnic with wine the first day.

the next day we took the underground to see the london bridge, not what i thought it was, i thought london bridge was the tower bridge, so we just walked to the tate musuem then went to buckingham palace, saw the guards and walked to kings college where amelia was staying and got fish and chips. that night i left them to go to the airport instead of staying at the hostel. my flight was at 720am, so i had to either take a taxi to the airport at 4 or 5 am, or just hang out at the airport. no underground until 8am on sundays. lame. so that was an interesting experience.. the airport was closed. completely empty except for about 20-30 other people just milling around waiting like me, or cleaning. i only slept an hour and just read. bought the time travelers wife to read in seattle, it was so good i really loved it. amanda needs to go buy it-its that good. had a long talk with a british airport maintance guy. drank coffee at 4am. read. was bored. haha. wasnt that bad. sleep deprevation is not so fun though.

flew into paris, took the train into town. found the hostel fouccinier (sp?) pretty easily. its near notre dame, so im going to walk there after this, then head over to the louve or d'orsay. it is such a pretty hostel, with breakfast included and this beautiful wood beams in the ceiling and this spiral staircase, i have lots of pics but am waiting til i get to siena to put it all on my computer, i dont have a memory stick to transfer and cant get wireless at the hostel.. so... just wait for the pics.

me and becky took a nap as soon as they let us into our rooms, had to wait til 3. after the nap we undergrounded it to arc de truimphe right? yeah.. that giant arc thing. then went and shared a bottle of wine and walked up the stairs to the eiffel tower. god thats a walk i dont want to repeat. no thanks! but really nice. the light show went off while we were there.

becky left today to go to lyon, really enjoyed spending time with her. will see her and the rest of the group on friday when we all meet up in siena. we had hostel breakfast together, she left, i went back to bed. haha. im glad i found an internet cafe before i heading off. best way to list all the crap im doing instead of seperate emails. its like.. 3.50 euros for 30 minutes! ridicolous! its like everything costs the same as home, but is double the amount because the dollar sucks.

but im not sick anymore. i was so sick the last two days at home. too sick to have a party like i wanted to. i felt bad not being able to say goodbye to my friends, but ill be back in october. it was pretty miserable, but its gone now! i think i just was so stressed out that it was easy to get that sick.

alright. im off to find food and a church. i miss my phone and not being able to talk to everyone. but its so wonderful here and im really happy. i love you all. jordan.

arrived in europe

hello everyone. its 3pm london time and i got in around 11. i am so tired. the overnight plane to london was really small and i sat next to the worst passenger on the plane. too tired to complain. imagine that. but i got to my hostel in kingston? im with rebecca and her friend amelia right now in the hostel lobby and i think we are just gunna hit the grocery store and get some beer and sandwich stuff for dinner and just get a good nights sleep.

strange travelling all alone, catching all the connecting flights, figuring out where to go. im glad i made plans to meet up with rebecca first. otherwise id be in bed. hahaha.

ok. too tired to write more. love you all.

jordan

8 days and still no flight!

hmmm. eight days til i leave. still havent booked my london to paris flight. online trying to find it now. wrote down my itinerary i have so far.. but still have more to do. almost done with my thank you notes from my graduation-ive been busy! but they are coming as soon as i finish them all which will be before i leave.

me and hahnah are planning on shopping before i leave tacoma too. i need to get a camera lens (dont worry i know where and what im getting), a skirt that doesn't wrinkle easily and a bra. but i know what im packing for the most part.

i got the most glorious sunburn ever last week. i met up with hahnah at the ocean and was lying on my stomach for an hour or two and burnt myself from the bottom on my swim suit bottoms to the tops of my ankles. it hurt to sit. ive never been so burnt! its getting better now, only the inside of my knees hurt sometimes. and i havent peeled yet! hopefully not at all..

anyways. i think writing this blog is furthering my procrastination of not finding a flight to paris. so im going to do it. hopefully ill find something under $150. sigh. wish me luck.

and PS: at doyles-irish band on thursday. it will be awesome. ill be there, call me if you are in tacoma and want to meet up with me.

lovejordan.

time is flying by so fast. 14 days til takeoff

hey everyone. I just realized i leave in 14 days. the to-do list i have is extensive. i just bought my plane ticket from london to paris and from paris to florence. ill arrive in florence then take a train or bus to siena and hopefully arrive in time for our first meeting in siena. i got really cheap plane tickets, i just hope everything goes smoothly.

Rebecca and I are going to meet up in London and stay together in Paris for the first night. I still havent booked a place to stay for the rest of the nights ill be in Paris, but i will do it very very soon.

Ive got my carry on bag from tjmaxx and a huge purse thing im hoping wont be too big to use as my second carry on. I still dont know if tripods are okay to carry on... i want mine there, but i dont want them to take it from me. so im either going to carry it on and hope for the best, or mail it to myself. Must check out prices for mailing from tacoma to siena.

mainly im nervous about my carryons. i dont check luggage and i dont trust TSA or any airport security people to touch my stuff. im not too worried about the other stuff.. which i think is a problem of mine. I never worry about the things i should. hahaha.

I really just cant believe how quickly this is all coming. and how unprepared i feel. Im sure ill figure it all out though. wish me luck! i need lots of it. haha.